15. Etta #2
"No. It's not."
She looked at the man in the other boat. He had his back to us and his shoulders hunched against the weather.
"He asked about me," she said.
"What?"
"I heard him. He asked if I was all right. He knew my name."
"He knew you shouldn't be out here."
"How'd he know that?"
"I don't know. Maybe Orrin told him."
"Why would Orrin tell him that?"
"I don't know, Daniella. I don't know anything right now except we're being towed and you need to stay centered."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're pale and you're shaking and you need to sit down."
"I don't want to sit down."
"I don't care what you want. Sit down."
She sat.
I worked the wheel. The wind was pushing us east and I had to keep correcting or we'd swing wide off the line.
"Etta?"
"What?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For bringing me out here. For letting me be on the water again."
"You're welcome."
"Even if we die."
"We're not going to die."
"You don't know that."
"I know that man knows what he's doing. And I know this line'll hold. And I know we're going to get home and your mama's going to hug you and then she's going to kill me and I'm going to let her because I deserve it."
Daniella was quiet for a minute. Then she said, "She won't kill you."
"She might."
"She won't. She'll just yell at you."
"That's worse."
"It's not worse than dying."
"Depends on the yelling."
She almost smiled at that.
The tow took forty minutes. Maybe longer. I lost track.
The sound was rough and the chop kept trying to swing us off the line but I held her steady and we kept moving.
My shoulders were burning after the first ten minutes. After twenty my hands were cramping. I flexed my fingers one at a time and kept working the wheel.
The man in the other boat never looked back. Not once. He just kept his head down and his hands on his wheel and brought us in.
I watched his back. Watched the way he moved. That thing I couldn't name kept pulling at me.
I knew him.
I didn't know him.
It wouldn't leave me alone.
We came into Orrin's dock just before three. The rain was still coming down hard and the wind was still loud but the worst of it had passed.
I saw people on the dock before we got close. Curtis and Dale and some of the others. And Yolanda.
She was standing at the edge with her arms crossed and her face white. She'd been standing there a while. I could tell.
The man brought his boat in first and tied off. Then he came back for my line and brought the Charlene up alongside.
I cut the engine I didn't have and just stood there.
Daniella stood up.
"We're home," she said.
"We're home."
Curtis reached down and took her hand. He pulled her up onto the dock and Yolanda was there before her feet touched the boards.
She got her arms around her daughter and held on.
Daniella said something I couldn't hear. Yolanda didn't answer. She just held on tighter.
I looked away.
The man was already moving. He had his back to me and he was walking toward the far end of the dock. He didn't wait. He didn't look back.
I wanted to thank him.
I wanted to ask his name.
But he was gone before I could do either.
I climbed up onto the dock.
Yolanda was still holding Daniella. She had her face pressed against her daughter's hair and her eyes were closed.
When she opened them she looked at me.
"You're all right," she said.
"I'm all right."
"You're soaked."
"So are you."
She let go of Daniella and came over and put her arms around me. She held on for a long time.
"Thank you," she said.
"I didn't do anything."
"You kept her safe."
"The man in the boat kept us safe."
"You brought her home. That's what matters."
She let go and stepped back. Her face was wet. I didn't know if it was rain or tears.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"You don't know him?"
"No."
"He came out there alone."
"I know."
"That's not safe."
"I know that too."
She looked down the dock where the man had gone. Then back at me.
"Go home," she said. "Get dry."
"I need to check the engine."
"The engine can wait."
"Yolanda—"
"It can wait, Etta. Go home."
She turned and went back to Daniella and put her arm around her and walked her toward the parking lot.
I stood there in the rain watching them go.
Then I turned and went to find Orrin.
He was in the main building at his desk. He looked up when I came in.
"You're all right," he said.
"I'm all right."
"Daniella?"
"She's fine. Yolanda's got her."
He nodded and looked back down at his papers.
I stood there dripping on his floor. The rain was still hammering the roof.
"Who was that?" I asked.
Orrin didn't look up.
"Some crazy fool offering to work for me for free."
I waited.
He kept his eyes on his desk.
"He came out there alone," I said.
"I know."
"That's not safe."
"I know that too."
"You should've sent two men."
"I sent who I had."
"You had Curtis. You had Dale."
"I needed them where they were."
"So you sent one man out into that storm?"
"I sent the man who volunteered."
I looked at him. He still wasn't looking at me.
"How long's he been working for you?" I asked.
"Long enough."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting."
"Orrin."
"Leave it alone, Etta."
"I'm not going to leave it alone. He came out there and pulled us in and I don't even know who he is."
Orrin put his pen down and looked at me.
"He's a hand. That's all you need to know."
"What's his name?"
He looked at me for a long moment. Then he looked back down at his desk.
For a second I thought he wasn't going to answer.
Then he did.
Flat. No inflection. Like it didn't mean anything at all.
"Vincent," he said. "But he prefers Vinny."